CHAPTER FORTY-ONE: PREDATOR & PREY !

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PENELOPE GARCIA'S MORNINGS USUALLY STARTED OFF NORMAL. She'd leave her apartment, get coffee and go right into the BAU and into her lair. That's how her mornings started off. They never started off with Casey asleep on the couch in her lair.

Casey was sprawled out on the couch, in the same clothes she had been in yesterday. She was asleep and she was using her coat as a blanket and a pillow that was on Garcia's couch. She looked like a sleeping kitten.

Garcia furrowed her brows at the girl and put her coffee on the desk along with her bag and tried to attempted to wake Casey up. Garcia puts a hand on Casey's shoulder and the girl immediately jumped awake.

Casey looked up and realized it had been Garcia. I mean, who else was she expecting? It was Garcia's office. "S-Sorry." Casey apologized as she rubbed her eyes. "Sorry, what time is it?" She questioned.

"It's 7am, honey," Garcia told as Casey sat up. "Why are you asleep in the lair?" Casey then remembered why she was in the BAU in the first place and remembered what happened last night and why she left home quickly. "I... I don't know if I can tell you."

Garcia saw how serious she looked saying it. "You can tell me anything." She sat next to her on the couch and Casey gave the woman a look. "You can't keep a secret to save your life." She told.

"I know, but I'm a good listener." Garcia told and Casey looked around and started talking again. "Um... I-I don't know if it's safe to..." Garcia began to grow concerned. "Safe?" She questioned. "Honey, what are you talking about?"

Casey looked at the woman and realized there was no turning back now. She took a deep breath and began to tell her everything. From the flowers to what occurred the night before.

      And once Garcia had spotted Hotch enter the office, she immediately approached him. "Sir... can I speak to you for a moment? It's urgent." From then, Garcia and Casey begin to explain everything to Hotch and Hotch drops everything as soon as he sees the rest of the team enter the office.

      Casey had decided to stay in the other room as he brought everyone in because she didn't want to explain everything again since she had already explained everything to Hotch and Garcia.

     "I'd like everyone in here," Hotch says as he enters the round-table room. "Now." With the urgency in his voice, everyone immediately entered the room and Morgan had noticed that one person was missing. "Where's Casey?" He asked.

     "She's here, but she wanted me to discuss this with everyone else here in private." Hotch stated. "What's going on?" JJ asked, as if she were reading everyone's minds. "Casey has just informed me that she has a stalker. A stalker that sent her a heart, just last night."

      Everyone looked at one another. "A heart?" Emily asked.

     "A human heart," Garcia said. "Along with a picture of her and Adam." She added.

      "I know we mostly don't deal with stalker cases, but... Casey's one of our own. And we need to do everything we can to put a stop to this." Hotch explained.

      "Why didn't she tell us? Starting from the flowers... why didn't she say anything?" Rossi asked.

       "I didn't think much of it," Everyone turned as they saw Casey in the doorway. She entered the room. "I just... the stalker— they... started sending flowers. I just thought it was someone in my building that was admiring me... I didn't think much of it. It felt nice to be looked at in a certain way. But... soon, he started sending dead flowers and that made me uncomfortable, so I just kept throwing them out and told my doorman to tell that person to stop sending the flowers. And they stopped for a while. And then it was a box. And then there was the heart and the picture. As soon as I got the box, I dropped it and came back here." Casey explained to the team.

        "Why here?" Morgan asked, curiously.

        "I know it wasn't smart," Casey told. "But I didn't wanna go back there. The police would've done nothing. And I feel safer here. I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys sooner."

         JJ gave the girl a side hug. "It's okay," She said, comforting her. "We're gonna figure out who's doing this."

        Hotch looked around at the team. "Garcia, Reid, JJ, track down where the flowers were sent from. Maybe we can get info from there. Also, do research on everyone in Casey's apartment building. Background information could help." Garcia nodded as Hotch looked her way. "Also, call Deputy Adam Brody, if he sent that picture to Casey, we have to also assume he's s target, as well."

        "Rossi, Morgan, Prentiss, I'd like for you to go with Casey down to her apartment to pick up some things. I'll be sending a detective and a deputy with you. Casey's our first priority for now. We don't touch on any new cases until we find out who's doing this."

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       Rossi, Emily and Morgan had taken Casey down to her apartment complex and Rossi and Morgan stayed to talk to Casey's doorman as Emily went with Casey to help her pack. Emily looked around the apartment. "I can't believe Reid and Garcia are the only ones that have seen your apartment." Emily stated.

      Casey shrugged, "Yeah. I don't really have guests over. Sorry for the mess." She stated. Emily shook her head. "Oh, it's okay. I'm a bit of a slob myself." She joked.

      Casey stopped for second and thought. "I'm being stalked." She said. Emily could only look at the girl. "I'm being stalked. That's the first time I'm saying it out loud." Casey paused again. "I'm being stalked."

     "We're gonna do everything we can." Emily assured. She had hoped that Casey would never have to be in this position again after this. It hurt seeing her like this. She didn't need to stress over this.

"Cee?" A voice was heard from outside Casey's room.
Emily and Casey looked at each other. "Is that—" Emily asked. As if on cue, Adam rushed in the room. His hair stuck on his face and his face went to relief once he spotted Casey. "Cee..." He said in relief. "Adam."

Casey embraced her friend in her arms. "Thank God you're okay. I was so worried." She said. "I'm here, now. It's okay. Are you okay?" Adam asked. Casey shrugged, "Could be better. You know, if there wasn't some lunatic after me. And you." Casey stated.

"When Hotch called me, I expected that you guys needed help on a case, nothing like this." Adam said. "You have any hints?" Emily questioned.

"None, so far." Adam shakes his head. "I informed Don and he said he's gonna have surveillance around here 24/7 to keep an eye on the place. He recommends you stay at the BAU until further notice." Casey nods, "Yeah, I was planning on doing that anyways."

Rossi and Morgan walked into the room next. "We talked to your doorman and he said he never saw the perp's face," Morgan informed. "There was only one time he spoke with him and that was when he gave you the flowers. He walked away for one minute and when he got back, he found the box of the dead flowers that he sent to you."

"There was no name on the box except for yours so he just assumed it was random package that was sent." Rossi told. "We took the package to run labs on it, but then again, it could take days." Morgan told.

"I don't have days," Casey stated. "Who knows what this psycho could be doing next?" Emily looked at the girl and then back at Morgan as he spoke. "We have Garcia running through the cameras to see if maybe could catch your stalker on camera delivering the package."
"We should start heading back there now." Emily nods.

The team and Adam arrive back at the BAU and Casey walks into the roundtable — praying for good news from JJ, Reid, Hotch and Garcia. Before Casey could ask the question, Emily beat her to it. "You find anything?"

"We found out who those fingers belonged to." Garcia told. "Ten different women." Reid said hesitantly as Casey stared at the man in disbelief. "He killed ten different women?" Casey questioned.

"And the catch?" JJ started as she grabbed the remote and pointed it to the projector. "They all look like you." JJ shows the pictures of all ten women. "Same age group... looks. Only difference is that only seven have been declared dead. Three are still missing."

Casey raises her hand, pausing JJ from speaking any further. Casey feels sick to her stomach. "Ten different women died because of me." Everyone paused as they looked at the girl. "You can't think of it that way—" Reid tried to speak but Casey snapped. "I can't?" She closed her eyes, overwhelmed with the stress. "God, I can't believe this is happening."

"Don't worry, we will figure this out." Emily assured to the girl as Casey sat down on the couch in the round table room. "There's nothing to figure out. This guy is obsessed with me and he decided to kill women that looked like me because he can't have me. Who's doing this?" She was obviously stressed with this new information.

      And seeing that she was stressed, Hotch looked at Adam and spoke: "Adam, can I speak to you for a moment?" Adam looked at the man and nodded, "Yeah, sure." Hotch also pulled Morgan and Rossi out of the room and Adam walked out of the room and Hotch stood in front of the man.

     "I would ask Casey but she's stressed about everything enough already so I'll just ask you. Do you know anyone that would want to harm Casey? An old friend? A colleague from college?" Hotch questioned and Adam began to think.
"I don't-I don't know. I mean, Casey and I just started to get close again—"

      Hotch was in no mood. "Think, Adam. I need you to think. Casey's life is at stake here, it starts with sending her gifts and kill different women that look like her to get revenge and then trailing it back to her dead in a ditch. And if she dies..." Hotch paused at the thought. He hated that he had the thought of Casey dying in his head. He hated thinking that. "I can't have that happen."

      Morgan steps in. "Come on, man. Think of old classmates, people that knew Casey."

      Adam was in thought and then something in his head clicked. "Uh..." The three men saw the look on his face. "What?" Adam began to piece it together. "Back in high school, there was this kid. He was practically obsessed with Casey. He's send her love letters, follow her like a puppy dog, he even tried to make a move on her but she rejected him." He snapped his fingers. "Cooper Rogers."

     "Starts with C." Morgan told. "Just like the envelope.
'To you, C.'" Rossi recited. "He would always send his love letters with that exact saying." Adam stated and Hotch looks at Morgan. "We need to have Garcia do research on this Cooper Rogers."

The four walk back in the office and explained and had Garcia do her magic. "Cooper Rogers?" Casey questioned, remembering the name. "He's capable of doing this?"

"There's a chance," Morgan stated. "But we have to look into all of this. And we're gonna do it every way possible."

Garcia sighs, "Okay. Cooper Rogers. Whoa, I'm already getting fishy things," She started. "He has two restraining orders against him from an ex-girlfriend. There was an assault charge against him and... whoa, he knew one of our victims— Lucy York."

"Is she one of the missing?" Hotch questioned. "No, she was declared dead a week ago." Garcia stated. "Address of Cooper Rogers' has been sent to your phones."

Hotch pulls his phone out and begins to make a call. "Get a SWAT unit to this address. Morgan, JJ, please go to the girlfriend's address, talk to her about Cooper."

Successfully, the team had Cooper in custody and they were ready for the interrogation. Casey stood outside of the room, watching his manner. He looked different, attractive almost. He definitely changed.

Adam stood outside with Casey, watching him as Hotch and Rossi went in to interrogate him. "He looks different." Casey spoke. "Back in high school, he had glasses, peach fuzz and thick glasses. And he wasn't capable of anything like this."

Adam sighs, "People change." Casey shrugs, "Yeah."

"I'm telling you," Cooper spoke. "I didn't kill those women. I didn't do anything like that. I'm innocent—"

"Shut up." Hotch told.

There was a pause.

"When was the last time you saw Casey?" Rossi asks.

Cooper furrows his eyebrows in confusion. "Casey... Willows?" He asks. "The last time I saw her was the day we graduated. What... does this have to do with her?"

Hotch flicks out the picture that was taken of Adam and Casey in front of Cooper. "Last time you saw her was graduation? You sure 'bout that?" Rossi questions. "I didn't take that. I swear to you, I didn't." Cooper shakes his head.
"I had a crush on her in high school but that was it. Let me talk to her. Please just let me talk to her."

      Rossi and Hotch look at one another and Rossi scoffs, "Yeah, that's not gonna happen." The two ignore Cooper's pleads and are beginning to walk out and Cooper bangs on the table and shouts: "I know who's responsible for this!"

Everyone stops in their tracks. Hotch makes eye contact with Casey, who's confused. Hotch turns around. "You do?" Cooper paused and Rossi speaks, "Who?" Cooper blinks before sniffing and then looks at the men and utters three words. "I can't say."

Everyone joins back at the round table room. "He knows something, he's too scared to say it." Hotch tells.
"Why?" Casey asks. "He probably thinks there's someone after him or someone's going to do something to him if he cooperates with us." Reid explains. "His words seemed genuine." Rossi shrugged.

     "Got anything on Lucy York?" Casey looks over at Garcia. "Lucy has been missing for over a month now, like I said, she was recently declared dead. Apparently, he and her were seeing each other. Nothing too serious, they worked together before she went missing."

     "He was close to the victim who resembles Casey and the victim ironically goes missing? I mean, we have it. That's him." Emily tells.

     Morgan and JJ walk in the room. "You guys get anything?" Casey asks. "His ex would tells us that sometimes he would get aggressive and the one time he was physical, she left him." Morgan stated.
     "But then he broke the restraining order rules and went to see her and camped outside her house for weeks so she got a second order." JJ says.

      Morgan holds a piece of paper in his hands. "We just compared the writing on the envelopes to his writing, it's his."

     "Guys!" Adam suddenly ran in the roundtable room. He had been watching over Cooper because Hotch had ordered him to do so. "You better come. Now." Everyone rushed back to their interrogation room.

      Cooper had been going crazy. One cuff on his left hand and he was throwing the chairs in the room around and banging on the window. "What is he doing?" Hotch questioned. Morgan opened the door. "Alright, man, calm down." Cooper had gone into full-attack mode and launched at Morgan and obviously Morgan took him down and Morgan and Emily pinned him down on the table.

     "I did it. I did it. I did all of it, okay? I sent the heart, I sent the flowers and I killed Lucy. Her body is in a cement barrel at the junkyard. You won't find her body. I did it all." Cooper admitted. Casey watched in horror and looked at the man. He was looking at the mirror but he was definitely looking at Casey and she was looking back.

      Morgan stared down at the man and punched him square in his face.

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Casey took a deep breath. She felt free. She had finished saying goodbye to Adam as he had left to go inform his chief about them catching the perp. Reid and Morgan were watching Casey was chatting with JJ, Garcia and Hotch.

      "She okay?" Reid asks. Morgan shrugs, "She's tired.
Had a long day." Reid nods and speaks. "I'll take her home." He offers and begins walking up to her. "You sure, kid?" Morgan asks and Reid stops in his tracks with his hands in his pockets.
       "Yeah." Reid nods.
       "I can go with you." Morgan offers.
       "I think I'm more than capable of taking her home, Morgan." Reid stated.
       "Didn't say you weren't, Pretty Boy. Go right ahead." Emily walks up next to Morgan as Reid goes up to Casey.

       "I'm, uh, taking you home." Reid tells. "I'll come with." Rossi tells. "Rossi—" Reid begins but Rossi interrupts. "I'll drive, you can take her up to her apartment."

       Casey shrugs, "Works for me." She looks at the team. "Thank you guys, by the way. I... I feel safe now. Adam told me that he's gonna have a police officer outside my building so that I feel more safe. But, thank you."

      "Of course." Garcia nods, hugging the girl. "We would've have stop at nothing until we found him." JJ tells.

      Reid tosses Rossi the keys. "Let's take you home. You've had a long day." Casey takes a breather as she exits the building.

      After a short car ride home, Reid walks Casey up her apartment building and Casey opens the door and takes a deep breath as she enters her apartment. "Thanks, Reid." Casey says.

      Reid looks around. "Yeah, of course, it's no problem. If you want me to stay..." Casey looks at the man and shakes her head, she didn't want to be a burden to Reid. "No, it's okay. Really. I'll see you tomorrow, maybe? JJ, Emily and I were gonna go out for coffee in the morning. Maybe we can do something after?"

     The wide-eyed man nods at the girl and smiles at her. "Yeah, maybe. I'll see you... tomorrow?" Casey smiles back and nodded, "Sure."

     Before Reid could walk out, he stops in his tracks and asks: "Hey, uh, Casey?" Casey turns to the man. "Yeah?" She asks.

    "You and Adam..." Reid couldn't find the words to form. "Have you guys ever...?" Casey furrows her brows and realizes what he's asking. He was wondering if the two ever dated.

     "Oh, no, no, no," Casey chuckles. "He's like my brother.
Why do you ask?" Reid shrugs, "No reason." The two pause and then Reid nods at the girl. "I'll see you." Casey smiles at Reid as he waves at her goodbye. "See ya." Reid closes the door behind him and exits her apartment.

     Casey had then decided to get ready for bed. She needed a good night's sleep if she was going to hang out with Emily, JJ and Reid back-to-back tomorrow. She yawned and changed into her pjs — a t-shirt and pajama pants.

    As Reid headed back in the car and Rossi was driving him back to the BAU to file some paperwork, Reid began to think about the case a little deeper. There was a lot of things that didn't make sense about him and his gut feeling was telling him something. He just couldn't make it out.
He squinted his eyes as he thought.

   "Hmm." Reid hummed in the car and Rossi looked at him in curiosity. "What's on your mind, kid?" He questioned.

    As Reid thought, Casey headed into her bathroom and stood in front of the sink and looked at herself in the mirror. She brushed her teeth and decided to wash her face.

    "Something about this. Feels off." Reid tells. Rossi furrows his brows. "How so?" Reid shrugs, "I don't know, it just does."

     Casey washes her face and grabs a rag near the sink and dries her face and once she does, she looks up and sees someone standing behind her and she gasps and the next thing she knows, the person smashes her face against her mirror and Casey heard the mirror shattering echoing in her ears and she falls backwards and her vision is blurred as she lands on the floor and before she falls unconscious... she gets a good look at her captor that takes off his mask.

      Adam.

hehe yea
y'all are some good profilers lol
we all know not to trust the best friends lmaooo
anywaysss
thank you for reading!
y'all are gonna get the TEA in the next chapter!
lowkey excited but not really for the next chapter lol
y'all will figure it out soon 🤫
-mya <333